Monthly update: August 2014

The month has passed and it's my favorite time, giving an update of my dividend portfolio. I've updated my benchmarks to include the total return indices, instead of only the stockprice indices. This seems like a better comparison.

Indicator	As of 31-7	As of 31-8	% change
S&P 500 Total Return	3.503	3.645	+4,0%
Dow Jones Industrials Total Return	32.786	33.910	+3,4%
AEX GR	1.168	1.203	+3,0%
USD.EUR	0,7446	0,7616	+2,3%
Portfolio value	€ 18.629	€ 19.313	+3,7%

All in all, August was a great month for capital gains. Even though it seems like the world is in the worst shape in recent years (Ukraine, Irak/Syria, Israel/Palestine, Ebola...), stockmarkets just keep chugging along. USD.EUR rose which made my dollar listed equities more valuable. My portfolio gained almost 4% which is great. Even though I am focused on dividend income and growth, It's always nice to see portfolio value increase.

Purchases

• None (I probably have enough funds to start a new position at the end of September)

Dividends received

• DE: 18 shares @ $0.60 for a total of $10.80
• KMI: 48 shares @ $0.43 for a total of $20.64
• OHI: 59 shares @ $0.51 for a total of $30.09
• TGH: 43 shares @ $0.47 for a total of $20.21

Total: around €54 after tax which is 3.5 times more than I received last year in August.

Dividend increases

• BBL raised its semi-annual dividend payment with $0.06 to $1.24 per share, an increase of 5%. This raise adds around $3 to my yearly dividend income.

Yearly forward dividend

My 12-month forward dividend rate is now €709, compared to €683 last month. This increase is due to BBL's dividend increase and a change in the USD.EUR-rate. In the next month I expect another raise in dividend income if I start a new position.

How was your month? What are your plans for the coming month? Keep plowing your money into the stock market or maintain a cash position to use when the markets start to move downward again?